United States Environmental Protection Agency
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
Office of Solid Waste, OSW (renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009) (5305W)
EPA530-F-00-008
February 2000
Environmental Fact Sheet: Deferral of Phase IV Standards for
PCBs as an Underlying Hazardous Constituent in Soil
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing
to temporarily defer a portion of the rule applying Land
Disposal Restrictions (LDR) under the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA). This deferral applies to soils
contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as an
underlying hazardous constituents (UHC), that exhibit the
Toxicity Characteristic for metals. This action is needed
because the existing regulation is discouraging remediation
of contaminated soils, contrary to EPA's intent of
promulgating alternative treatment standards for
contaminated soils.
Background
The Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) program requires that
generators of hazardous wastes pretreat the waste prior to
land disposal. The treatment must substantially reduce the
toxicity or mobility of the hazardous waste to minimize
short- and long-term threats to human health and the
environment posed by the waste's disposal.
EPA promulgated the LDR Phase IV rule on May 26, 1998. This
rule establishes an alternative treatment standard of 100
ppm total PCBs in soil (10 times the Universal Treatment
Standard) or 90 percent reduction of total PCB
concentrations, whichever is higher (40 CFR part 268.49).
These standards further require that generators treat all of
the underlying hazardous constituents (UHC) in contaminated
soils. An UHC, for this purpose, is any hazardous
constituent that might be present in the soil at levels
exceeding 10 times the Universal Treatment Standard for that
constituent.
In the Phase IV rule, EPA imposed this requirement for the
first time on soils exhibiting the Toxicity Characteristic
for metals, and on soils containing listed hazardous wastes.
The requirement that PCBs be treated as an UHC in soils
exhibiting the TC for metals is having an effect opposite to
what EPA intended. Remediations where the remedy was to
involve soil exhumation, treatment and redisposal have
stopped, or has been seriously delayed.
Action
EPA is temporarily deferring the requirement that PCBs be
treated as an underlying hazardous constituent in TC soils.
EPA needs more time to restudy the issue of appropriate
treatment standards for PCBs as an UHC. In addition, EPA
needs to further examine the relationship between the LDR
standards for PCBs and requirements for PCBs established in
a rule recently promulgated under the Toxic Substances
Control Act.
The Agency still requires generators to treat these soils to
meet LDR standards for all hazardous constituents except
PCBs. Generators are also required to treat PCBs if the
total concentration of halogenated organic compounds in the
soil equals or exceeds 1000 parts per million. See RCRA
section 3004(d)(2)(E) - California list provision.
Applicability
This temporary deferral would only affect a relatively
narrow class of wastes: soils exhibiting the TC for metals
and containing PCBs in concentration between 100 ppm and
1000 ppm.
The Agency is not contemplating any type of deferral for
other organic hazardous constituents in TC metal soils. The
requirement to treat PCBs has been in place without
significant issue since 1992 and is unrelated to the Phase
IV rule. The scope of this deferral restricts soils
exhibiting the TC for metals containing PCBs as an
underlying hazardous constituent.
The requirement to treat PCBs as an UHC also can apply to
soils containing a listed hazardous waste, where the
generator elects to comply with the alternative soil
standard of 10 times the UTS or 90 percent reduction of
initial concentrations. See 40 CFR part 268.49(d).
For More Information
The Federal Register notice and this fact sheet are
available in electronic format on the Internet at our Web
site at . For
additional information or to order paper copies of the
Federal Register notice, call the RCRA Hotline at (800)
424-9346 (outside the Washington, D.C. area), or (703)
412-9810 in the Washington, D.C. area or TDD (800) 553-7672
(hearing impaired). Copies of documents applicable to this
rule can also be obtained by writing: RCRA Information
Center (RIC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste, OSW (renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009) (5305), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.,
Washington, DC 20460-0002.